Established podcasts have something most creators don’t: sustained trust. Listeners don’t just recognize your name—they understand your point of view, your judgment, and your experience. That depth of familiarity makes podcasts one of the strongest foundations for selling courses.
A course isn’t a bundle of old episodes behind a paywall. It’s a structured learning experience designed to help a listener reach a specific outcome. For established shows with a clear niche, courses can become a repeatable and durable revenue stream.
This guide explains how to create and sell a course based on your podcast, with an emphasis on realistic expectations, clear structure, and long-term ownership.
Understanding realistic conversion rates
When selling a course to your podcast audience, it’s important to set realistic expectations from the start. In most cases, around 3% of your audience will purchase your course.
That number may sound small, but it’s typical for creator-led products. Podcast listeners are warmer than a cold audience—they’ve chosen to spend time with you over weeks or years—but they’re still making a deliberate buying decision.
What matters more than total downloads is relevance. A podcast with 5,000 listeners who tune in because you consistently solve a specific problem can outperform a much larger show with a general audience. Courses convert best when they deliver a clearly defined outcome for a clearly defined listener.
This is what makes courses viable even at modest scale. Serving a small, motivated segment of your audience well is often enough to justify the effort, especially when the course can be sold repeatedly without ongoing fulfillment.
Why podcast audiences are well suited for courses
Podcast audiences are built on repetition and depth. Listeners hear not just your conclusions, but how you think through problems. Over time, that creates credibility—one of the core requirements for selling education.
Many listeners already use podcasts as learning tools. A course is a natural extension of that relationship.
Choosing the right course topic
- Questions you receive repeatedly
- Topics that generate follow-up discussion
- Episodes listeners reference months later
The strongest courses are outcome-driven. Focus on helping someone achieve one concrete result. They solve a problem.
Structuring your course
Every course should begin with a clear promise. Break the material into modules that move the student toward that outcome. Use audio, video, and written resources where each format makes sense. Have clear objectives such as "At the end of this lesson the student will be able to __________."
Creating the course content
Use past episodes as raw material, but rewrite them into a structured learning path. Keep lessons short, focused, and actionable.
Pricing and positioning your course
Price based on the value of the outcome, not the amount of content. For most podcasters, a one-time purchase is the simplest place to start.
Selling your course through your podcast website
Your podcast drives attention. Your website handles conversion.
Podpage lets you link directly to any course platform—Teachable, Payhip, Thinkific, or others—while keeping your podcast website as the central hub. This gives listeners a clear place to learn about the course and decide if it’s right for them. If the course includes an embeddable element, you could put that into a custom page (see video).
Payhip charges no monthly fee which enables you to gauge demand for free. If you want to combine courses and community check out Heartbeat, or Circle.
Promoting your course sustainably
Mention the course naturally in relevant episodes. Support those mentions with links in show notes, email newsletters, and your website. Evergreen promotion compounds over time. You HAVE to promote your courses to get sales. Any easy way to promote it across your site is to put information in your episode footer in Podpage (see video).
Common mistakes to avoid
- Expecting high conversion rates
- Building before validating demand
- Teaching too much instead of solving one problem
- Relying only on social platforms
Getting started
Courses reward clarity and consistency, not perfection. For established podcasters, they’re a natural next step—and with the right website infrastructure, they can become a durable extension of the work you’re already doing.
